The Income Tax Department has made a big allegation against Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of businessman and Congress’s current interim president Sonia Gandhi. It is said that he has hidden income of Rs 106 crore in 11 years.
It is alleged that Vadra declared his income from benami holdings in Rajasthan less than Rs 106 crore in 11 years. The IT department has proposed to add this amount to their income during the assessment year 2010-11 to 2020-21.
The IT department has also proposed to add about Rs 9 crore to the income of Robert Vadra’s seven companies (M/S Artex, Skylight Hospitality, Skylight Realty, Bluebreeze Trading, Lambodar Arts, North India IT Parks and Real Earth), which are The assessment year is between 2010-11 to 2015-16.
There is under-reporting of income about the department’s investigation against Vadra for alleged theft in land deals in Rajasthan under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act. The IT department had also communicated its findings to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in December 2021 on under-reporting of Vadra’s income (Rs 106 crore) and seven of his companies (about Rs 9 crore).
Vadra’s lawyer Suman Khaitan did not respond to a set of questions by e-mail. When contacted, Vadra said, “The reason behind this is the same, which has been there for the last several years. Time seems appropriate to reveal my name. This is clearly something to fall back on! My legal team as you have already addressed them…can clearly answer.”
According to sources, Vadra and his companies will have an opportunity to challenge the probe by the Income Tax Department on the alleged under-reporting of income.
Explain that under section 270A of the IT Act 1961, evasion of income tax can attract a penalty of 50 per cent of the tax payable for short reporting of income. If under reporting is due to incorrect reporting, the penalty will be 200% of the tax payable.